why does everybody go out too hard at the start of XC races?

the reviver wrote:

pastaisgood wrote:

Looking at the splits of my team mates and others at races everybody starts the race way too fast. their first split will be like 5:10 and the end with a 6:00 pace. Why not just keep a consistent effort the whole way through or better yet, negative split? thats what ALL of the fastest guys do, the engative split. i know the anxiety and excitement is HIGH at the start of a race, but i'd think runners would get better results NOT sprinting all out at the beginning and negative split

...because they're high schoolers, and high schoolers do dumb things?

Pacing yourself smartly can really help. Psychologically, a lot of people find it hard to be that far back early. (Running even splits for a 1600m, I would regularly be behind people until 500-600m who would end up a minute behind me. Yes, a minute, as in sixty seconds.) Get past that and reap the benefits.

For a high-level example of this, look at Dathan Ritzenhein's 12:56:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMyxo-JX-sg&t=1h11m20s

He goes out in dead last while the field goes out stupidly fast, around 60 and 2:02. I wish I could find a full English version of the race -- at 1600 he's still dead last, the announcers have totally written him off, but he's run an even-paced 4:10 or so -- right on pace for 13:00, which is what he could reasonably run. (In running, you can't do more than what you are in shape for just because you want to. Going out too fast will result, every time, in coming home way too slow.)

Then later in the race the clueless announcers are fawning over Bekele "pressing the pace" as he runs a 63 and a 64 -- he's not pressing anything, just slowing down less than the rest of the field. None of them should have been going out at 12:40 pace. Meanwhile, Ritzenhein, the token white guy they forgot about a while ago, is working his way through the field. When they finally notice him with 600 to go, he's in fourth.

When everyone goes out fast, going out smart can lead to you beating people you were never supposed to beat. (As others mentioned, Colorado has done this at NCAAs many times.)

Going out too fast is just you beating yourself.